When Gods Wake (and the Earth Trembles)
by Delilah Noir
Summary: What if the wall gods were real? What if Eren Jäger was not just a boy? AU, canon divergence "What would you have me do? I'm dying!" He shouts. "Remember Jäger, you must remember. You are the Hunter, you are the fighter and you lay waste to your enemies." Her voice starts to fade, her final words echoing in his ears. "Remember Jäger and fight ."
1. Chapter 1: The Fall of Trost

Here it is! The complete version of chapter 1! I know it took forever, and I'm sorry about that, but it's probably gonna be the norm. So be prepared for a long wait for chapter 2.

Anyway, for those of you who weren't here when I first posted this, this is an AU in which Maria, Rose, and Sina do actually exist as goddesses and Eren is the god of war in human form. This is meant to be pretty self indulgent with some BAMF!/OP!Eren, and I'm gonna be ignoring a lot of the more recent canon. This story will follow closer to the simpler idea that was presented in the beginning, in that all of humanity was overrun by the titans and retreated behind their walls.

Now with that all being said, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Hot. It's so hot. He can't breathe. His flesh is melting off, the scalding acid finally reaching his skin.

 _Jäger, wake up_.

The world is red. Crimson with the blood of those trapped with him. There's nothing left, he can't fight this. He was foolish to even try.

 _Jäger you must wake up! There's no time!_

His head sinks below the surface and there is nothing more. There is no light. There is no sound. There is nothing. He can't breathe and he can't fight, there is nothing left. He will die here.

 _JÄGER!_

Eren's eyes snap open. Instead of the belly of a titan, he sees the glowing silhouette of a woman. "Lady Maria?"

He can't see her face, but there is a smile in her voice. _"Yes Jäger, it's me,"_ Now there is sadness. _"I'm so sorry to do this to you, but there is nothing else I can do. My wall has fallen and now Rose will soon share my fate. The humans are dying faster than they are born and soon Sina will have the last of them."_

"What would you have me do? I'm dying!" He shouts.

 _"Remember Jäger, you must_ remember _. You are the Hunter, you are the fighter and you lay waste to your enemies."_ Her voice starts to fade, her final words echoing in his ears. _"Remember Jäger and_ fight _."_

Suddenly, Eren's head is above the surface and he can see. A simmering, roaring kind of rage bubbles up in his chest, setting fire to his insides.

How dare they. How _dare_ they! The humans are his! His to kill! His to teach! His to destroy! How. _Dare._ ** _They!_**

He's screaming as he feels his body rapidly expand, new bones clicking and snapping into place. He bursts through the stomach of the titan, his fury shaking the very foundations of the earth. He roars, loud and long as he adjusts to his new body.

A deep inhale and he can smell everything around him, the smell of death and destruction and the putrid odor of titan flesh. One lumbers towards him, its eyes a glazed grey and its mouth wide in an empty grin. Eren steps forward, a wet crunch as he steps on the half-destroyed carcass of the titan that ate him.

He raises his fist and plows it through the smaller titan's head and sends it flying. It lands with a crash, feebly twitching as the upper part of its skull regenerates. Eren marches toward it at a steady pace, rage making his eyes glow an eerie green. Before it can stand, he brings his foot down on its nape, a sharp twist and a wet crack and the titan goes limp.

Its corpse steams as it decays. Eren lifts his head and breathes in, reveling in his kill. He's inhaling for another roar when he catches it, a familiar scent on a stray breeze.

 _Mikasa!_

Eren turns his head sharply in the direction it's strongest, and he sees her. Mikasa, his best friend and sister in all but blood, alone and _grounded_ against a fifteen meter titan. The simmering rage in his chest sparks into a flame.

No. **_No_**.

They can't have her. Eren can't let her die. He's sprinting, the distance between him and the _monster_ threatening his family closing rapidly. Before it even has the time to see him, he rears back and slugs it. His clenched fist collides with its face forcefully enough to send its head flying off its body. It tumbles backwards.

He smashes his foot down on its nape and steam billows. He roars at it, bringing his foot down a second and a third time, raging at the titan that had the gall to try and take anything else from him. When the corpse at his feet is nothing but a steaming, bloody mess he looks up.

Movement on the rooftops catches Eren's eyes. Mikasa is there, talking to two other people. He can't tell who one is, but he'd recognize the other's mop of blonde hair anywhere. Armin. Good, together they'll be fine.

He turns away and towards another titan, its oddly curled hair bouncing with every thundering step. It reaches out, greedy fingers intent on catching the humans behind him. Eren catches the titan's hands in each one of his. They scuffle, the titan trying to break Eren's hold as he pushes it back, but his superior strength wins out and he forces it across the street and into a building. It lands with a crash and stills for a moment, disoriented and weak. He throws one punch, then another, each landing in the titan's throat and destroying its nape.

The distinct hydraulic sound of ODM gear being fired draws his attention. Eren turns his head and sees Mikasa and the other guy carrying Armin hurtling off. A cursory glance around and he spots another titan corpse up the street, but no other titans. He tracks them, watching as they speed through the air.

They land on a long stretch of roof and run to the end of it before taking off again, still heading in the same direction. Eren looks ahead of them, trying to figure out where they're going. He sees it. A large building with titans crawling on it.

Headquarters.

If they go there now they'll be killed! There's no way the three of them can take out so many titans on their own, Eren has to get there before they do. He starts to run, his own footsteps thudding and thundering along. It's not long before he pulls level with Mikasa's group, he pushes himself to run faster, passing them and getting further away by the second.

He turns a corner at the same breakneck pace and takes a leap over a row of buildings, his hand leaving behind a crater in the roof. Between one heartbeat and the next he's in the courtyard around HQ. There are two fifteen meter titans on the side he's running towards. One rears back, smashing its face into the wall and tearing a gaping hole in it. It leans back and the other one pushes it over so it can see. The two titans stare into the hole, their faces split by their meaningless smiles.

He's on them before they can reach inside. He jumps and punches the closest titan in the side of it's head, sending both of them flying off the building. Eren roars. His wrist steams as bones snap and pop back in place. He glances to his left at the sound of breaking glass. Armin and Mikasa made it inside, they'll be safe as long as he keeps the titans away.

One of the fifteen meters he knocked down gets up. One of its eyes and part of its cheek missing, but its mouth still open in a wide grin. He steps forward, and when it comes in range he punches it again, sending it straight to the ground.

Eren roars again, the sound resonating deep in his chest. It draws every titan's attention to him and off the building, all of them start to lumber towards him. Eren dodges around a ten meter coming at him from the front and stomps on the nape of the nearest downed fifteen meter. He pivots away from the persistent ten meter titan. Punching it, he destroys its head and sends it skidding across the stones. He turns and stomps on the other downed fifteen meter's nape.

Thudding footsteps behind Eren make him look over his shoulder. Another fifteen meter titan with wild grey hair and a bald crown raises its arm to strike. He turns just as it brings its arm down, catching it and using it to throw the titan over his shoulder. It lands on a pair of four meters, crushing them. A couple of smaller titans clamber over its body and a fourth fifteen meter starts to run at him.

He darts forward, socking the fifteen meter in the jaw, It stumbles back and he keeps moving. He brings his fist down on a seven meter's head and kicks a four meter, propelling it into the row of houses bordering HQ, they crumble and several large stones pin it down.

The titan with the bald crown tries to sit up, but Eren is too close. Kneeling, he grabs its throat. He yanks and its head comes away from the rest of its body. Standing, he and brings his foot down on what's left of its nape for good measure. The fifteen meter Eren hadn't killed starts coming after him again, dodging around its wild grab he turns to face it.

He raises his arms in a fighting stance and tenses to strike, but before he can, he's barreled into by a ten meter he hadn't noticed. It sends him stumbling back into the row of already damaged buildings. The titan bites down on his side and he lets out a surprised groan. He shoves it away, but a tearing sensation and an unexpected agony makes him pause.

Glancing down, a few ribs on his right side are fully visible, the sight almost makes him want to be sick. He keeps the ten meter back with a hand on its face. Trying to right himself, he moves his foot back, but he moves it too far and the four meter that he'd pinned chomps on the back of his heel. He tries to look down so he can see it, but the fifteen meter he'd been fighting had gotten close enough to bite his free arm, just below the shoulder.

It jerks its head back, taking a chunk of flesh with it. It chews and swallows and goes back for more. Eren growls and moves his other arm to push it away, but the ten meter lunges. It manages to catch his other arm, biting and chewing, it takes a bit too.

More titans have made their way to the courtyard surrounding headquarters. A seven meter starts tearing at his side and two four meters go for his leg. He's pinned. He tries to struggle forward but they just push him back. There's not much he can do but try to endure the odd ripping sensation and the searing pain that comes with it.

Eren spaces out for a while, lost in the odd rhythm of _pull-tear-pain_ and the sounds of chewing. He's not sure how much time passes, it seems stretched thin and pulled tight around him, dragging on and on. It's not till he hears another set of footsteps that he comes back to himself.

He looks up and sees another titan. It's a fifteen meter, which in and of itself isn't all that unusual, but he recognizes this one. The lanky blond titan that jumped over buildings and clung to a clock tower with one of his _friends,_ with _Thomas,_ in its mouth. Looking at it makes him see red.

That anger, _rage_ , gives him the strength to move. Eren forces himself to stand, pushing through the titans at his feet and _moving_ even though both his arms have been eaten down to the bone. One arm breaks and falls off, too weak to hold under the weight of the titan and the pressure of him pulling away. He staggers a few more steps before the other arm falls off. Without the added weight of a titan on either side he moves faster.

A thundering step, then another, and he's on the titan. He rears back and bites down on its neck, breaking the skin and cracking the bones underneath, titan blood filling his mouth with a disgusting taste.

The fifteen meter that'd had one of his arms starts to stand. Locking his jaw, Eren raises himself to his full height, his ribs breaking and cracking in his chest. With all his might he swings the body between his teeth and smacks the other titan. The blond titan's body rips away from its head and crashes into the fifteen meter, toppling it backwards into the buildings.

Eren drops the severed head in his mouth and roars. His friend is avenged and his anger starts to dissipate, the strength it gave him leaving as suddenly as it came.

He falls to one knee, chest heaving and steam billowing as his missing limbs regenerate, his ribs pop and crack back into place and his side stitches itself closed. He's so tired, it's had to have been several hours since he assumed this form and he's killed at least a dozen titans. It would be so _easy_ just to let himself fall here, to stop fighting and let the exhaustion win. He's done enough hasn't he? Mikasa and Armin are safe, most of the titans in the area are dead, and Rose's inner gate is still standing.

 _For how much longer?_

No, there's one more thing, one more thing he needs to do before he can let himself rest. He has to seal the outer gate.

There's a boulder near it, Eren remembers overhearing some of the garrison soldiers complaining about not being able to move it, too heavy for any horse to pull and too big for any crane to lift. He'll just have to hope that he can.

He takes a deep breath and stands through sheer force of will, knees shaky and side tender. Most of the titans around him are nothing but steaming corpses, and the ones that are still alive are too small to really care about, so he starts walking.

As he walks, his footsteps jar aches and pains in his body, apparently instant regeneration is not painless. His side and his legs feel raw and aching where the flesh had been torn off, and his arms are vaguely numb. Stubbornly, Eren pushes through the discomfort and ignores it, forcing himself to focus on his goal. The boulder's not far off now.

He gets there with minimal fuss, all the titans he'd come across having been either too small, or had dismissed him as just another titan when they saw him. The boulder sits in a small courtyard, having been left mostly alone by the people of Trost, it looks deceptively peaceful. Very few of the buildings surrounding it are damaged at all, and the vegetation around it sways gently in the light breeze. The top of the boulder is nearly level with Eren's shoulder, and it's about half as wide as he is tall, moving it won't be an easy task. He places his hands on it, plants his feet, and pushes.

The boulder doesn't move, not even the slightest bit. He tries again, bracing himself more and pushing harder. It still doesn't move. This time, Eren takes a deep breath, tenses his shoulders and shoves as hard as he can.

The boulder still doesn't move.

Damn it! If he can't move the boulder, he won't be able to seal the breach in Wall Rose. The titans will just keep walking in like it's nothing, and if the inner gate falls after that...all is lost. Every human left behind those walls would be in danger, and it wouldn't be long before Wall Sina falls, either by titan hands or human.

He rests his forehead against the boulder and closes his eyes, he takes a deep breath and tries to think. There _has_ to be a solution, what other options are there? He's trying, but he's grasping at straws, any option he comes up with being summarily dismissed, either too weak or too time consuming. God, he wishes Armin were here, his strategic minded friend would probably be able to see another solution, but he's not and Eren is on his own. There's only one thing he _can_ do, he has to move that boulder.

Failure is not an option.

This time when he goes to the boulder, he puts his arms as far around it as he can, and he _heaves_ it up with all his might. The boulder comes up off the ground and he struggles to settle it on his shoulders. The crushing weight of the it pushes down on him, more than a ton of solid rock on his shoulders fighting the pull of gravity. His legs are shaking, and he's pretty sure that some of his ribs and the bones in his shoulders are broken, but he forces himself to stand upright and bare the burden. He's panting with the effort of holding the boulder up, and the air around him is cloudy with the steam pouring off his body as it tries to repair itself. With the steely determination that got him through his cadet training and into the top ten of his class, he take the first step towards the gate.

Eren's focus narrows to the road ahead of him, one foot in front of the other and the next after that. He wobbles more than once, the weight on his back threatening to send him crashing down, boulder and all. In his concentration, he doesn't hear the approach of other titans, nor does he hear the twang of metal wires and the sound of blades slicing through flesh. He can't see much, but gradually the ground beneath his feet changes, from mud to cobblestone to thick wood planks. He's reached the trenches leading to the outer gate, a scant few yards away from his goal.

Out of nowhere a titan appears before him, its glazed eyes staring at him with a starved sort of joy as it ambles forward. Eren doesn't stop, he knows, _knows_ with a fierce sort of certainty, that if he stops now he won't continue, so he keeps walking.

It gets closer and closer to him, but just before it's too late the titan stumbles and starts to fall, a faint look of surprise on its warped face. A tiny figure in green jumps off its corpse, quickly sailing out of his limited field of view. Eren keeps walking, stepping on the steaming, half decayed corpse as he goes.

He's almost – _almost_ – there, just a little farther and this entire thing will be over. Eren clears the remaining distance with a few large strides, coming face to face with the gaping maw of the breach. It's nothing but a large jagged hole in Wall Rose, surrounded by rubble and debris, and yet it dooms them all.

This is it.

With a deep breath, Eren grits his teeth and heaves the boulder off his shoulders, shoving forward into the breach. The boulder grinds against sides of it, moving forward with a bone-shaking rumble. He pushes and shoves until the boulder won't move any further, until he _can't_ move it further.

The breach has been sealed.

The combination of such heady relief and bone deep exhaustion sends him back to his knees, his vision blurry and his chest heaving. He can't see much beyond the steam clouding the air around him as his body desperately tries to repair itself, but he can faintly hear the continued sounds of battle, screaming and shouting accompanied by the characteristic thud of overly large bodies.

Several small figures in green land near him, their cloaks emblazoned with a pair of mismatched wings, the Survey Corps had arrived some time during the fight. He can hear them chattering, but he's not really focused on what they're saying, struggling to calm his breathing as he is. It's not until one of them, a taller man with a big mouth, raises his voice that Eren takes notice.

There are six of them and it seems like they're in the middle of an argument. One that, from the bits and pieces of information he can catch, seems to be about him. They're split evenly on how they should deal with him, whether to kill him or to capture him. Which, Eren has to admit, sounds fair. After all he does _look_ like a titan even if he's _not,_ so he can understand where their fears are coming from, but he has no interest in finding out if he can regenerate a titan-kill blow.

When he moves they all tense up, readying themselves to fight or to flee, but all of them are shocked still when he calmly places a hand on the nape of his neck. A shocked outcry ("Did you see that!? It's protecting its weak spot!" "Oh God, it's intelligent!" "We have to kill that thing now! What if it turns on _us_ next!") pours out of each of them, the group unable to truly believe what they have just seen. In their disbelief, they don't realize how loud they are, and they forget to pay attention to their surroundings.

Eren sees it before they do, an abnormal with its upper torso flopped back as if it had no spine, arms flailing as it sprints toward easy prey. It's still too far away for the group of soldiers to have noticed it, but it's moving fast.

If they don't move _now_ most of them will die, and Eren can't let that happen.

He forces himself to move, his limbs sluggish, as if he were moving through thick mud. The group of soldiers scatters in a panic, startled by his movement. Eren doesn't pay attention to them, his eyes focused on the abnormal rapidly gaining ground on them. He sprints towards it, closing the distance between them twice as fast, and rams into the abnormal. As exhausted as he is, it almost knocks him over, but he stands firm and sends the titan to the ground.

It lands on its face, it's back contorted in such a way that its belly faces the sky. It struggles to get up, arms and legs flailing wildly, but it can't with its body stuck in such an unnatural position. He grabs its ankle and drags it forward, straightening it out. The titan starts to rise but he plants a foot in its belly. He forces the titan to bend forward with his grip on its throat, exposing its nape and leaving it vulnerable. Eren bites down and pulls, ripping open it's nape and tearing out part of its malformed spine. The titan goes limp and its body starts to decay as he spits out the oversized bones in his mouth.

His merciless slaughter of another titan seems to have snapped the soldiers out of their daze, and they all fly off, no one so much as mentioning an attempt to kill him. The group goes after another titan, which they bring down with a coordinated assault before speeding off to help their commerads.

All of Eren's exertion finally catches up to him. An overwhelming wave of dizziness hits him and he falls flat on his face, the world spinning sickeningly around him. He doesn't try to move, his arms and legs leadden and his body exhausted, but he doesn't expect the sharp, slicing pain across the nape of his neck. For a nauseating moment, he's looking through two pairs of eyes, before he's falling back, landing on something rough and uncomfortably hot.

Disoriented and exhausted, it takes a little bit longer than it should for Eren to realize that he's back to his normal size. There's something wet on his face and he's lying on the remains of his titan form, he needs to move. Out here, like this, he's vulnerable, any titan able to come along and use him as an easy snack. He sits up, his arms like jelly and barely able to hold him up, and looks around. There's a house that's mostly intact maybe twenty feet away, and with no small amount of effort he drags himself to his feet. Carefully, he makes his way down his own corpse, his exhausted clumsiness and the slick of decay making the climb dangerous.

He stumbles to the ground, barely able to stop his legs from folding like a house of cards beneath him. God, he's so tired. He weaves drunkenly as walks toward the abandoned house, the world spinning dizzily around him. He makes it through the empty door frame and to the far wall without incident. He leans against it, using the wall to support him as his knees finally give out and he slides to the floor. His eyes slip closed and between one breathe and the next he's out.

* * *

What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know!

And to those of you who left their comments on the last chapter, don't worry! I still have your comments saved, and I'm super grateful for all your support!


	2. Chapter 2: The Aftermath

Whoo! New chapter! And it didn't take me almost a year this time either!

This chapter has a lot of dialogue, so it's not as action packed as the first one. I hope you enjoy!

To clarify a few things, this fic uses the canon that came from the first season of the anime, so there will be inconsistencies with the manga. I've read the manga and seen the anime, but it's been a while, and I've only read up to about season 2 in the manga.

Also I am in no way a medical professional, so please excuse any mistakes made in this chapter.

* * *

When Eren wakes up, it's to a startling lack of noise. There's no screaming or thunderous crashing and for a moment it's uniquely disorienting. He tries to get up, but immediately regrets it, his whole body one giant sore spot. Groaning, he tries again, slower this time, and manages to get himself more or less upright. He's leaning heavily against the wall, but its better than being stuck on the floor.

He starts limping toward the door fame but freezes in his tracks when he sees what's outside. He's about two seconds away from panicking before his sluggish mind catches up to what he's seeing. Clean up crews. If they managed to take back Trost then there were probably corpses everywhere and they needed to be moved before they rotted too much. Humanity wouldn't survive and epidemic like that.

It's in his inattentiveness that he gets caught, one of the soldiers noticing him in the house.

"Hey!" He shouts, making Eren jump. "Why aren't you helpin-…" His voice trails off as he comes closer and notices Eren's state. Messy hair, ragged clothes, and glazed eyes all clue the soldier in that something's not right. "Are you alright?" He asks. Still groggy from waking a few minutes earlier, it takes a moment for Eren to form a response. He's too slow for the soldier's taste, and before Eren can say anything he's already back out the door and shouting.

"Medic! I need a medic over here! We've got a live one!" Yells the soldier. People startle at his words, their disbelief palpable in the air. A hush falls over the assembled soldiers before they start murmuring to each other. Gawkers are quickly pushed out of the way as a small team of medics hurry over, a pair of them holding a stretcher while a third leads them.

They arrive in a minor whirlwind. "What's going on here?" Asks the lead medic, an older, stern-faced woman with grey streaking her hair. Her two juniors stand behind her.

"I'm not sure ma'am." Says the soldier. "I was on cleaning detail around here when I saw this boy." He waves his hand toward where Eren is still leaning against the wall. "At first I thought he was just slacking off, but well…"

The medic looks at Eren, her eyes obviously assessing him. "That's not the case here." She says flatly. She waves the two younger medics forward. "Check him over, see if it's safe to transport him." Turning, she starts talking to the soldier.

The two medics, one a young woman with short cropped hair and glasses and the other a tall, skinny man with his hair tied back, approach him. The male medic doesn't say anything as he takes Eren's wrist, laying his fingers over the pulse point. At the same time the other medic comes over to stand in front of him.

"Hi!" She says brightly. "I'm Ari, can you tell me your name?"

"Eren Jäger." He says.

"Great! It's nice to meet you Eren." She says in that same bright tone. "Now can you tell me where you're hurt?"

"I'm not- hey!" He yells, flailing a little as she pulls his face to her, running her fingers along his nose.

"Hmm… Your nose isn't broken, though I wonder where all this blood came from." She says, more to herself than Eren, as she ignores his indignant squeak when she pulls his head further down. She moves her hands around his head, pressing gently. "No bumps on your head either…" She pulls him back to eye level. "And your pupils aren't different sizes."

"His pulse is a little unstable." The other medic says, his voice a soft, monotone drawl.

"He's safe to move. Let's get him on the stretcher!" Ari says, letting him go as she goes to get the stretcher. Her collegue joins her, each of them picking up one end and bringing it over to Eren. They rest it on the ground while still holding it. Ari smiles up at him. "Please lay down and we'll get you out of here!"

"I can walk." He grouses

"Standard procedure." The lead medic comes to stand next to Eren, her stern gaze on him. "Now, if you wouldn't mind getting on the stretcher, we can leave without a fuss."

Eren hunches his shoulders. "Yes ma'am." he mumbles. He does his best to walk normally over to the stretcher, it's a short distance so it shouldn't be a problem, but his legs still feel like jelly and he stumbles. He ignores the lead medic's soft scoff.

When he's secured on the stretcher the lead medic nods at her juniors. "Let's go." She takes off at a brisk walk, leading the way out of the house and to the street. There are still soldiers on clean up duty here, all of them with cloth tied around their faces, some were hauling debris while others were moving bodies.

Most of them ignore the medics, bodies being carted off on a stretcher wasn't exactly uncommon right now, until someone seems to realize that he's actually _alive._ It's a bizarre feeling, being stared at by so many people, a lot of them wearing wide-eyed looks of startlement. Some wearing a strange, fragile sort of hope, the kind with the power to break hearts.

Ari smiles at him again. "It looks like you're gonna be a bit of a celebrity!"

"I guess…" he says quietly.

When they reach the Inner Gate they're stopped briefly, but a few choice words from the lead medic has the two guards cowed, and the gate's opened. The lead medic has them resume the quick pace she'd set, heading to a set of hastily set up tents. As they get closer, Eren can see other medic scurrying around, attending to a depressingly small group of patients. Most of them are incoherent and delirious and nearly all of them missing at least one limb.

"Clear the way!" Barks the lead medic. "Incoming!"

The other medics move as they pass, working easily in the controlled chaos of their makeshift ward and seamlessly returning to their work after they go by. It's somewhat impressive, but Eren doesn't have long to watch them work as he's hauled into one of the smaller tents.

The lead medic goes to one side of the tent without saying a word, rummaging around in the crates that had been haphazardly stacked there. Ari and the other medic go to the other side, and the stretcher is quickly put on the ground. They each grab one of Eren's arms, pulling him up and leading him to the table that had situated in one corner of the tent. They help him onto it, leaving him seated with his back to the canvas wall of the tent and his feet hanging in the air.

The other medic turns to Ari. "I'm going to get the doctor, you stay with him." He waves his hand in Eren's direction before turning to leave, not waiting for Ari to reply. She nodds anyway, more to herself than anything else, jotting something down on a clipboard she'd picked up somewhere. The lead medic comes over to them, her hands full of various pieces of medical equipment, a few of which he recognizes and some that he doesn't, and lays them out on the table beside him.

It's not long before the other medic is back along with one of the doctors, an older man with short cropped blond hair and scruffy cheeks. He waves the other medic off as he comes to stand in front of Eren, the other medic leaving again behind him.

"You the one all this fuss is about?" He asks conversationally, grabbing the stethoscope and popping each of the earpieces in his ears.

Eren's brow furrows in confusion. "Uh… yes?"

The doctor chuckles and presses the flat part of the stethoscope to his chest. "Deep breaths." Eren complies and the doctor glances at the lead medic, who's been watching silently thus far. "What are his symptoms?"

"Unsteady pulse, fatigue, and weakness." She says curtly.

The doctor hums, moving the flat piece and listening. "I can hear the unsteady pulse." he takes the stethoscope off and sets it back on the table. "Any broken bones or internal injuries?"

"He was standing when we found him and pretty much coherent. I did a cursory check for a concussion and he seemed pretty much fine to me." Ari says.

He nods and looks at Eren. "Well, young man, are there any injuries you're trying to hide?" He sounds amused.

Eren shakes his head. "No sir, I feel fine."

"I'll take your word for it, since I really don't have the time to try and treat someone who's more or less healthy." The doctor grabs the clipboard from Ari, flipping the page and scribbling something on the new one. He tears it off and hands it to Eren. "You start feeling worse, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, you come straight back here, ya hear? For now just get some rest, goddess knows how the hell you got out of there without so much as a scratch."

The doctor drops the clipboard and stethoscope on the table beside Eren and leaves, the lead medic following behind. She didn't look happy. Whatever the case Eren decides to just be grateful that he's able to get out of here without much trouble.

Ari hands him a damp cloth before starts gathering the medical equipment that had been left out, quickly and easily putting them back where they came from. "You can go ahead and get yourself cleaned up now, but be sure to follow the doctor's orders okay?" she says.

Eren nods and hops down from the table, wiping his face off and stuffing the small scrap of paper in his pocket. "I will." He leaves the tent and makes his way out of the improvised hospital carefully, trying his best to stay out of the way of the other medics. He drops the damp, now pink cloth in a discarded pile of used bandages before he leaves. Hopefully he can find Mikasa and Armin soon.

The frantic energy in the air increases tenfold once he's away from the hospital, soldiers and civilians both scurrying around from tent to tent. There are hundreds of them, hastily put together and arranged with only the barest semblance of order. He wanders for a while, mostly ignored in the barely controlled chaos around him.

He eventually finds a sort of makeshift canteen, a rag tag mix of various chairs, benches, and even crates haphazardly strewn about with some people sitting at a few. Behind all that is a tent set up as a rudimentary kitchen. A line of soldiers and civilians stretches in front of it as they all wait for their food, shoulders in an exhausted slump.

He scans through the crowd, both those standing in the line and the few who were sitting down, hoping to find someone he recognizes. When he spotts Jean, sitting alone on a couple of stacked crates idly stirring the food in his bowl, he starts moving over to him.

Jean doesn't see him as he gets closer, his attention held by his food, and by the time Eren's close enough to talk Jean's still unaware of him. Eren pauses for a moment, uncharacteristically hesitant.

He shakes himself out of it and grabs Jean's shoulder. "Jean?"

Jean's head shoots up, his jaw dropping and his eyes wide. "E-eren?"

Eren's brow furrows and he nodds his head, letting go of Jean's shoulder. "Yeah. Do you know where Mikasa and Armin are?"

"We… we thought you were dead."

He shakes his head. "I'm not."

Jean stands abruptly, the watery soup in his bowl sloshing around. "Where the hell have you been?!"

He looks away, his hand on the back of his neck. "I haven't… I'm not sure…"

"What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?" Jean snarls, slamming his bowl down on the crate and spilling half its contents.

"Hey! I didn't do this on purpose!"

"Who gives a shit if you did or didn't! Do you have any idea what this did to Mikasa? To Armin?"

Eren lunges, grabbing Jean's arm tightly, "That's why I need to find them! Do you know where they are?"

Jean roughly shakes him off, "We just got off a clean up detail. They weren't hungry so I'd guess they headed back to the barracks."

"Where is that?"

Jean sighs, grabbing his bowl and sitting back down, "Back by the gate, near the old mill."

"Thanks Jean!" He shouts over his shoulder, taking off at a run back toward the gate and missing whatever Jean says in reply.

He's still fatigued from his time in a titan body, but he makes good time back. Soon Eren's at the gate and pushing himself to run past the hospital. He can see the old mill now. It's not long before he's in the barracks, which is more of the same hastily set up tents, doubled over and panting for breath.

His eyes dart around, frantically searching for his family. Mikasa and Armin aren't here, at least not in the area he's looking. Them not being anywhere near him makes his chest ache and his heart skip a beat, panic taking hold of him. What if one of them was hurt?

Eren forces himself to slow down and start again, Jean said they were fine and he didn't see them in the hospital. They have to be okay. Luckily there weren't many people paying attention to him so no one really noticed him storm into the camp like a bat out of hell.

He starts actually looking in the tents, taking care not to disturb anyone inside them, and it takes him several minutes to find the right one. The sight of Mikasa and Armin, safe and unharmed, is a huge relief. He slips inside as quietly as he can.

There are two bunks in the tent, pushed close together to make one large bed, and both Armin and Mikasa are sitting on it. Armin's on his side at the far edge of the bed, his back to Eren, he can't tell if he's awake or not. Mikasa sits facing him, but she's not paying attention to him, staring off to the side at something he can't see.

"Mikasa?" He asks softly.

Her eyes snap to him, widening with shock and disbelief. "Eren?"

Eren nodds and opens his mouth to speak, but whatever he was going to say gets lost in a wheeze when Mikasa barrels into him. Trembling, she hugs him tight to her.

"Mikasa? Hey I-" Her hold tightens impossibly around him, feeling more like a steel band than a set of arms. He squirms a bit, trying to wiggle his way out of her grasp, but it doesn't work and he gives up, resigned to staying put.

The commotion they caused gets Armin's attention and, sometime when Eren wasn't paying attention, he'd come to stand behind Mikasa. His eyes are wide and brimming with tears and he looks scared, devastated, and hopeful all at once. He's just out of arm's reach, like he's scared to come any closer.

Eren works one of his arms out of Mikasa's hold and reaches for his brother. Armin chokes out a sob as tears slide down his cheeks, his hands shaking as he grabs Eren's tight. "Eren." He says softly, voice full of heartbreak.

They stand there like that for a long moment, Armin's tears falling down his face and Mikasa's wetting Eren's shirt.

When both of their tears have dried and they're just holding tight to each other, Eren gently pushes out of Mikasa's arms and grabs her hand. He pulls them both to the bed and sits down, tugging on the other two to get them to join him. They sit in a rough triangle, knees touching and Eren's hands still clasped tightly in Mikasa's and Armin's, both of them staring at Eren like they can't believe he's there.

He looks away from them, feeling his face heat up under the scrutiny. "I'm fine guys."

Mikasa doesn't say anything, just squeezing his hand tighter, but Armin's breath hitches as he looks at Eren. "We thought you were _dead_ Eren. I saw-" Armin's jaw clicks closed as his voice cracks, taking a moment to try and regain his composure. "I saw you get _eaten_."

Eren meets Armin's eyes, his own wide as he remembers, in vivid detail, the devastated look on his friend's face just before an over large jaw snaps shut. His gaze drops. "I'm so sorry." He whispers.

"How are you alive?"

Eren shakes his head. "I'm not sure."

"It doesn't matter." Mikasa's voice makes the two boys look at her. She stares at Eren intently. "You're here now and that's what's important."

Armin and Eren nod and the three of them sit in silence for a moment. Eren looks down at his hands, still clasped in Mikasa's and Armin's, and lets himself just be. The three of them are safe and they still have each other.

Eventually Eren takes a deep breath and looks at both of them. "There's something I should probably tell you. It's a little hard to believe, but I need you to trust me."

Neither of them say anything but their resolute stares give him the strength to continue.

"I don't know how, but I can turn into a titan." His admission is met with dead silence.

"Eren," Mikasa says, through grit teeth. "This is not the time for _jokes_."

He shakes his head. "I'm not joking. After…" His throat clicks as he swallows. "After I was eaten, I think… I think I died for a moment." Mikasa's grip on his hand becomes painful for a moment and Armin sucks in a shaky breath. "It's hazy, but I remember talking to someone, a woman I think, and then I'm suddenly a titan." He looks at Mikasa intently. "I saved you. You were suck on the ground up against a fifteen meter and I remember socking it in the face."

Mikasa stares back, eyes wide. "You did…?"

" _You_ were the titan that cleared the supply depot that day?" Armin asks, his brow furrowed in thought.

Eren nods.

Armin looks down at their hands, his thumb tracing faint circles on the back of Eren's. He vaguely remembers that being the arm that had been severed when he'd been eaten. "They're calling you the Berserker titan." Armin says faintly. Eren doesn't say anything, just letting his friend think. Armin meets his gaze. "Can you control it?"

He shrugs. "I'm not sure. That's something I wanted to talk to you two about." He looks at Mikasa and then again at Armin. "If this is something I can learn to control, I don't think we can risk me learning behind the wall." Armin nods, both of them aware of the government's paranoia. "That's why I need you to come up with a plan."

Surprise flashes across Armin's face before he starts to shake his head, looking away from the other two. "You want _me_ to come up with a plan? What could I do to help you? I couldn't even… I couldn't even save _you_ when you needed it!" Armin looks back at them, eyes full of self-loathing and doubt.

"You're stronger than you think Armin." Mikasa says as she reaches out to touch Armin's other arm.

Eren squeezes his hand. "That big brain of yours has saved us more times than I can remember."

"We trust you Armin." Mikasa adds.

Armin stares back at them, stunned by their complete faith in him. For years he'd believed himself to be the weak link in their group, and being faced with so much proof contrary is incredibly humbling. He nods, back straight and eyes sparking with determination. "Alright, I'll do it."

"Knew you'd come round." Eren's teeth flash in a fierce grin. Mikasa watches them in approval.

"What else do you know about it Eren?" Armin asks.

Eren's lips twist downward as he thinks. "I'm not sure… I don't know what triggered it, but I think it had to do with what I saw in between being human and then being titan. I don't remember feeling all that different, I still knew who you two were and that the titans were the enemy, there was no urge to try and… eat anything." He feels nauseous at the thought before he pushes it away and continues.

"I could regenerate injuries, which I think you saw." A glance at each of them gets him a nod in return. "Other titans didn't really care about me if I wasn't injured or fighting them. I guess if they couldn't smell me they couldn't tell I was any different from one of them."

"You were stronger than they were." Mikasa adds quietly. "Even against other 15 meters, you tore through them like they were made of paper."

Armin hums softly, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "As a titan you could pick up that boulder, which is something no one's managed before, but it looked like it pushed your limits. How did you become human again?"

"I was exhausted." Says Eren. "So I don't think I did it intentionally, but I remember falling down flat on my face. There was a sharp pain in the back of my neck," He pulls his hand away, reaching for his nape at the memory. "And suddenly I was a lot smaller. I had to pull myself out of my titan body and climb down. After that I found shelter and passed out."

"Was that the only physical effect?" Armin asks.

Eren's hesitation is enough of an answer and both Mikasa and Armin look at him sharply. He sighs, shoulders slumped and his hand dropping to his lap. "No, my nose bled and the medics said I had an unsteady heartbeat."

"Eren!" Mikasa says sharply.

"Medics?"

"I was found by a soldier on clean up duty. He called for a team of medics and I was taken to the hospital behind the wall. The doctor said I was fine!" Eren explains, eyeing Mikasa.

She stares back, worried and angry. "This is _dangerous_ Eren!"

"I said I was _fine_ Mikasa!" Eren bites out.

Armin interrupts them before their argument gets anymore heated. "Mikasa's right Eren, It _is_ dangerous." Mikasa relaxes at his words while Eren glares at him indignantly, gearing himself up to argue. "Which is why we need to test it and find out how much strain you can take safely."

Eren deflates, letting his irritation go. "What do you think we should do?"

"I think we should join the scouts."

Mikasa rounds on him. " _What!?_ "

"Think about it Mikasa! Eren needs to figure out his limits and there's no way he can do that safely behind the wall!" Armin jabs his hand toward the tent flap. "You _know_ someone will find out and probably report it to the military, and that's the _last_ thing we need."

Mikasa looks away, jaw set in a stubborn line. Eren tugs on her hand. "You know he's right Mikasa." She doesn't look at him.

"Besides, he'll have us with him." Mikasa and Eren both look at him. "You didn't think we were gonna let you go alone did you Eren?"

He laughs helplessly. "No, I guess not."

Mikasa smiles in spite of herself, looking at Armin. "What was your plan?"

Armin smiles back. "We all join the scouts, and on the next mission outside the walls we slip away. That way we'll be presumed dead and avoid suspicion."

Eren nods. "It's a good plan. How long do you think it'll be til there's another scouting mission?"

"Not long, maybe a month or two."

"That'll give us time to prepare and gather supplies." Mikasa says thoughtfully.

"Along with some extra training. We all need to be in top form if we're gonna survive behind wall Maria." Mikasa and Eren agree, and they all lapse into a comfortable silence.

Eren breaks it when he yawns, both of the other two looking at him.

"Are you tired?" Asks Mikasa.

"No…" The unimpressed look she shoots him makes him sigh. "Yes. I'm still exhausted."

She moves, pulling him and Armin across the bed, ending with him lying in the middle and one of them on each side. Armin settles down while Mikasa pulls away, he hears two soft thumps before she lays down and one of her hands lands on his upper arm.

When he sits up her hand tightens a bit, but she lets him go when she sees him reaching for his boot. He peels it off him and tosses it off the bed, laying down again. As he settles and gets himself comfortable he feels Mikasa and Armin each rest one of their hands on each of his arms.

He falls asleep like that, safe and surrounded by his family.

* * *

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